Sam Hornish, Jr.
Jon Samuel "Sam" Hornish Jr. ( born July 2, 1979 in Defiance, Ohio) is an American race car driver, which is active for Penske Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He previously drove for Penske in the Indy Racing League in which he 2001, 2002 and 2006, won the championship. In 2006 he also won the Indianapolis 500
Career
Early years
Hornish Jr. began racing at the age of eleven years in karting. After driving for several years in junior series, he appeared at the 1993 World Karting Association, where he won seven races and scored 29 top- five results. In the following season he won several championships of the World Karting Association, including the U.S. and Canadian Grand Championship and the U.S. Junior Class Grand Championship. 1995 Hornish was again champion in the U.S. Grand Championship and won nine races. He subsequently transferred to the U.S. F2000 Series, in which he drove six races for the team family owned and achieved a top 10 finish at Watkins Glen. In 1997, Hornish to Bordin Racing and drove twice to eleventh place, before moving to Primus Racing. He scored a second place at the Pikes Peak International Raceway and finished seventh in the championship.
In 1999, Hornish went to Shank Racing, for which he went to the start in the Toyota Atlantic Series. He won the Rookie of the Year as the best rookie in the series and won at the Chicago Motor Speedway. In addition, he drove the 24 Hours of Daytona for Intersport Racing.
Indy Racing League
His first year in the Indy Racing League (IRL ), he played in 2000 for the PDM team and finished third overall. The following year he drove for Panther and was IRL champion. 2002 Penske went into the IRL, but Hornish was their best driver Hélio Castroneves beat and become champions for the second time.
In 2003, he was fifth overall with the Panthers by a Cosworth - powered car Chevrolet engine of the team. In 2004 he moved to Penske. He could win the first race of the season, during the season, however, the Honda engines proved superior to the Toyota engine Penske. He was third overall behind two drivers of Andretti Green Racing in 2005.
On 28 May 2006 he won after he had already been on the pole position and the race Indianapolis 500 with a lead of just 0.0635 seconds ahead of Marco Andretti. At the end of the season he was also tied champion before the year's champion Dan Wheldon due to the fact that he had won in the 2006 season two races over Wheldon.
NASCAR
On 28 October 2006 announced Hornish that he would try to drive the last two races of the NASCAR Busch Series for the 2006 season for Penske Racing, as well as individual races in the 2007 season. In his first two starts in 2006 he drove a Mobil 1 sponsored Dodge with the start number 39, but was involved in two races in accidents with a 36th place as best result. In 2007 he went with the # 12 in seven races in the Busch Series at the start. His best finish was a 15th place at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. In autumn 2007, after the end of the IRL season Hornish went to the # 06 for Penske in the Nextel Cup at the start and completed two races, the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway and the Ford 400 Homestead- Miami Speedway, with a 30th place as best result.
In the 2008 season he drove the Dodge with the start number 77 and Mobil 1 as sponsor for Penske. In his first Daytona 500 Hornish ended up in 15th place, while his teammate Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch positions one and two occupied. In the 2009 season he was active for Penske in Sprint Cup.
Personal
Sam Hornish has been married since 2004. Since 2001, Sam Hornish Jr., a member of the Federation of the Freemasons, his box Omega Lodge # 564 Defiance, is a resident of Ohio.